“I won’t leave, no matter what,” Evan said, his voice strangely calm. “We leave here together.”
“No, Evan,” she whispered. “No. One more try and then you run. Bring back help.” She was okay, even if she burned to death in this cage. It would be better because she’d chosen it, rather than giving her death to the monsters who’d put her here.
A strange peace came over her, and tears pricked her eyes. They’d given it their all; they’d made it farther than she had dared hope they would. She’d give him the final tool and tell him what to do. He still had time to make it out.
She heard the beeps as he tried a third code. The door unlatched, and Noelle fell forward as it opened. For a beat, she didn’t understand what had happened. Then Evan was yanking her to her feet and they were running unsteadily together toward the door.
Another code.
She reached in her pocket for the small pair of scissors, almost unable to say whether she’d put them back there per the plan, letting out a gust of relief as her fingers found them.
The heat was almost unbearable now, the smoke thick. She brought her sweatshirt over her mouth, and beside her, Evan was using his shirt in the same way.
Tears ran down her face, and she blinked away the burning smoke, prying the cover off the electronic panel on the wall that held the wiring for the door. She prayed the system was simple. Why wouldn’t it be? They’d been in locked cages. There was no need for anything more than simple security to access the room.
The fire had spread quickly through the walls, and it had already made it to the inner portion of the one that held the door. It was still far enough away—she hoped—that the electric system hadn’t melted.
The fire roared and crackled, and they could hear random crashes behind them as things collapsed, but she thought she heard two male voices and the pounding of feet descending the metal stairs. Then they’d be at the long hallway that led to this room. Noelle and Evan would be cornered. A gun in front of them. A raging fire behind them.
“You’ve got this, Noelle,” Evan said from beside her, his voice hoarse. “You’ve got this.”
Deep breath. Okay. Okay. Yes.
She blinked at the wires, using her fingers to separate them, clipping the one she hoped operated the door. It remained shut. She let out a grunt of frustration and fear, refocused, and clipped the one beside it.
The door groaned open.
Noelle and Evan shot out into the hallway, coughing and gulping in lungfuls of fresh air as they ran.
“There! They went that way!” a man yelled. “Holy shit. Watch out.” Something exploded behind them, a portion of wall falling into the hallway, or so she thought. Her lungs burned, chest heaving as they ran, no idea where to go except away from those in pursuit.
“Up there, turn,” Evan panted as they approached a turn in the hallway. She followed him, ducking around the bend and then skidding to a stop as he yanked hard at her sweatshirt, plastering himself against the wall and signaling that she do the same. Evan pushed her behind himself and then reached in his back pocket, handing her the rope he’d tucked there. She took it, confused and terrified. What was he doing? She wanted to scream and pull at him, make him run with her. Away from the pounding feet that were approaching quickly. They had guns. They had weapons. They’d throw them back in cages.
Nonononono. I’ll die first.
Evan planted his feet and raised something in his good hand. The ice pick. He’d taken the ice pick when he’d kicked the one piece of furniture in the room to pieces for the wood.
She wished they had the power tools now. They’d be no good, of course, for full usage. They’d nixed the idea of taking one as they’d planned their unlikely escape. They’d only slow them down. They were too awkward and cumbersome to stab with. But she wished she had one now, just to swing at the man running toward them. Just to hurl at his head.
Crashes could be heard all around them, from up above and somehow down below. The building was quickly being consumed, smoke billowing past them in the hallway that led from the room where they’d started the blaze.
The footsteps were almost upon them. Evan raised his hand higher, and Noelle swore that for a moment the world stilled, then froze, then sped up, racing toward her in living color. She swayed, her fingers touching the wall next to her as Evan gave a mighty yell, bringing his hand down in an arcing motion at the same moment the man who had stood guard in the room upstairs while she was brutalized appeared at the turn where they were waiting, his head whipping toward them as Evan planted the ice pick in his neck. The man screamed, going down on his knees as he grabbed for the pick with two hands, a geyser of blood spurting from the wound.